the 1970s class struggle – where did it all go? forum, 8th december

The final meeting in our ‘uncaptive minds’ series on 1970s class struggle will be a forum on the lessons of the decade, what has changed in capitalism and where the workers’ movement has gone wrong. Drawing on the discussions at our previous six meetings, we will also look to tease out how we can apply this experience in our struggles today.

We have a panel of four speakers leading off the debate:

– John McDonnell MP

– Jeremy Corbyn MP

– Joe Marino, general secretary of the Bakers’, Foods and Allied Workers’ Union

– Steve Hedley, RMT London Underground regional secretary

There will be plenty of time for discussion and debate at the meeting, which kicks off at 6:30pm on Monday 8th December. The venue is in central London – email uncaptiveminds@gmail.com or phone 07595 245494 to find out more details.

report on lrc conference

by Chris Ford

Over two-hundred people attended the conference of the Labour Representation Committee held under the title of ‘The Future of the Left’. On the one hand the LRC conference took some very positive steps and on the other we had a full display of many of the negative traits of the traditional left.

lrc conference: has the traditional left a future?

Saturday 15th November saw the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee, a body supported both by Labour-affiliated and non-affiliated unions including ASLEF, the Bakers’ Union (BFAWU), CWU, FBU, NUM and RMT.

A packed-out Conway Hall discussed and debated a set of resolutions and elected a new National Committee. Our motion on workers’ self-management won a large majority and our comrades Chris Ford and David Broder were elected to the NC on an openly communist platform favouring workers’ self-management, having been nominated by the BFAWU. Dozens of the trade unionists attending also took the opportunity to buy the first issue of our paper and our pamphlets.

Full report to follow: click here for a pdf of the leaflet we distributed ‘has the traditional left a future?’

motion to lrc conference on workers’ self-management

Our organisation is proposing the following motion to the Labour Representation Committee conference:

After years of being told ‘There is No Alternative’, the crisis of global capital has shown that the entire system can be brought into question.  Furthermore the widespread state intervention to preserve finance capital has brought into question previously conceived ideas of nationalisation and “public ownership” traditionally accepted in the labour movement.

As part of developing a vision of a viable alternative to capitalism our movement needs to develop new ideas of social ownership and abandon statist conceptions which have proven to be an historical failure.

two announcements

Upcoming meetings

We have finalised the line-up for the last in the series of our ‘uncaptive minds‘ discussion series on the 1970s class struggle. Joe Marino (Bakers’ Union general secretary) and Steve Hedley (LUL regional secretary of the RMT) will be joined by John McDonnell MP and Jeremy Corbyn MP for a discussion on the subject “Then and now: where did it all go?”. The meeting takes place in London on Monday 8th December.

There are two meetings before that, however: the next is on the evening of Monday 10th November, a film showing and talk on the 1971-72 Upper Clydeside occupation. Email uncaptiveminds@gmail.com for more details. This will be followed by a meeting about the Grunwick dispute, taking place on 24th November.

Newspaper

The first issue of our newspaper The Commune will be published in the next ten days. It will feature extensive coverage of the economic crisis; articles about state intervention in the economy; about public sector pay; a piece by Gregor Gall on industrial democracy; Terry Liddle’s take on the life of William Morris; news from the class struggle in Iran; and other news from our movement. Email the above address to indicate your interest, and stay tuned.

To take a look at the pamphlets and leaflets we have already produced, click here.

mcdonnell to speak at uncaptive minds forum

john mcdonnell mp has confirmed that he will be speaking at the last of our uncaptive minds forums on class struggle in the 1970s.

the subject of the meeting, which will take place from 6:30pm on monday 8th december, is ‘where did it all go?’ john will be speaking alongside joe marino, general secretary of the bakers’ union, and steve hedley, lul regional secretary of the rmt.

for details of other meetings in the series see ‘events‘. email uncaptiveminds@googlemail.com for more information.

launch of new trade union co-ordinating group

fringe at the tuc congress, 5:30pm, tuesday 9th september, meeting room 1 at the brighton centre.